Wannabe Reaper GV
by The Shrubbery King
Summary: Shortly after dying and getting his name changed, Kouki Shin is now living in the Soul Society with a debt to repay. The only problem is that he really, REALLY doesn't want to pay it back. Because doing so means becoming a Soul Reaper, and Kouki knows that with everything that's about to happen, that is a really bad idea. No pairings. Self Insert, anti OP-OC. INTREST ABANDONED.
1. Book 1 (1): The Story Begins

Lying on the ground was a young man, barely an adult. He was thin and pale, although his paleness could easily be a result of his current circumstance. His facial features were hawkish with a scraggly goatee, short brown hair and a triangular nose. His clothes were dirtied by the road he was laid out on. His green thick green wool coat had almost come off his torso, the blue t-shirt underneath pulled in an odd way by the road beneath him. His pale blue jeans were all scraped up and one of his grey canvas shoes had been flung from his feet. On his face was a shocked expression as blood flowed from the back of his head, the car that hit him only a few metres away. A team of paramedics lit by the flashing lights of the ambulance and the streetlights around them surrounded the fallen young man, as well as a group of pedestrians who had witnessed the accident. And standing only a few metres away from that was the young man that was lying on the cold ground. Needless to say he was very alarmed.

At first he was silent, his mouth dropped open in horror.

"Uh… Um…" he began. "Hello? Can you guys hear me?"

Not a single person turned around, nor showed any sign of even hearing him. When he tried to touch one of the paramedics carrying his body away, his hand went straight through the woman's shoulder!

"Okay… guess that it's confirmed now." He muttered to himself. "I'm a ghost. Shit."

He looked around at the place where he'd died. It was strangely unfamiliar. Unfamiliar in the way that he'd never seen it before. In fact up to this point he couldn't really recall anything.

"Oh great, now I have amnesia. Wonderful." He groaned. "I guess that's why I'm being so… blasé about this whole thing. Is blasé even the right word? You know what, forget it. I need to find out where I am."

And so he set off walking away, looking for some indicator of where he actually was. From what he could tell about glancing around, he was certainly somewhere in Japan. How he got there was still currently a mystery. Was he on holiday? That seemed to fit. If he'd gone on holiday there he'd probably learned the local language as well. He seemed to be able to understand all the frantic shouts from the car crash scene. From what he could tell, he was just in an ordinary city. An ordinary city where nobody could see or hear him, and he was intangible and incorporeal. Also dead.

He let out a sigh as he sat down on a park bench. "Okay Lewis, think. Holiday, car crash, now a ghost. Where do we go from here? I guess I could try to find out what kind of ghost I am."

Lewis got up and stood on the bench before spreading his arms wide and hopping off the bench, attempting to fly. The idea that he might be able to fly was proven false as he dropped to the ground with a clump sound.

"Aw what? I can't fly? Lame." He snorted. "I guess the fact that I stood on that bench means I can't phase through objects. Or maybe it works at will?"

And so Lewis spent the next few hours testing out his various ghostly powers, making a mental list of each one that did work and which ones didn't work.

"Okay, flying: no. Object phasing: yes, can toggle on and off. People phasing: yes, always on. Tirelessness: no, for some weird reason. Since when do ghosts need to recuperate? Invulnerability…" he trailed off, looking at the giant drop before him. "Guess I'm about to find out."

Lewis was standing atop the tallest building he could find in the city, a skyscraper that stood next to another of similar height. The building next to the one he was on was actually taller than his, but he'd be damned if he had to climb up another skyscraper. He was just about to jump off when a voice behind him spoke up.

"That's dangerous y'know."

Lewis stumbled and fell back away from the edge, landing on his buttocks. "Ow! Wait, you can see me?"

"Shouldn't I be able to?"

"Well, I am dead after all." Lewis said as he dusted himself off.

"Really?" asked the voice as its owner walked over and leant against a radio tower. "Well I suppose it's lucky that I just happened by."

Lewis turned around to see who it was that was talking to him. It was a youthful man with black hair and a tall frame. Although what really surprised Lewis was his manner of dress. A black robe and a sword hung by his waist as well as a tattoo on his arm. There was no denying it, this man was a Soul Reaper. A very specific one to be exact.

"Who are you?" Lewis asked. He knew full well who he was, but he couldn't have him knowing he knew.

"My name's Kaien. I'm a Soul Reaper if you couldn't guess." He said proudly. "What about you?"

"Uh… Lewis. Professional ghost."

Kaien gave a snort of laughter. "A professional eh? I guess the job market's pretty open if you managed to find a position like that as quickly as you have." He said as he pointed to Lewis's chest. "You've only been dead for a few minutes from what I can tell."

Lewis looked down to where Kaien was pointing and saw a long length of chain protruding from his chest.

"How did I not notice that before?" he wondered aloud.

"You'd be surprised. A lot of Wholes don't actually know they're dead until we Soul Reapers come to move 'em along to the Soul Society." Kaien shrugged. "It can get a little awkward at times."

"Right." Lewis nodded numbly, a hand now wrapped around his chain.

"Just be sure to not tug on it. You probably wouldn't like what happens next and it would make my job way harder than it has to be." He warned. "Anyway, let's have a change of topic. Your name sounds pretty foreign. You're not from Japan are you?"

"Yeah, I guess that's pretty easy to see." Lewis nodded. "I was just here for a holiday, but somehow I wound up getting killed. I think I've forgotten a lot of things too. I must've hit my head on the road before I died or something."

"I probably wouldn't dwell on it too much." Kaien shrugged. "Right now it's your future you need to concern yourself about. I need to send you to the Soul Society."

"So it's the afterlife?"

"Essentially, yes. Although you might need to change your name when you get there, just to help you fit in a bit more." Kaien said before thinking to himself.

"Is that really standard protocol?"

"I could say yes or no and you probably wouldn't know." Kaien shrugged. "How about Kouki Shin? It's easy enough to pronounce so you won't forget it."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended by that or not," Lewis scowled before shrugging. "But I suppose you're right. Shin Kouki it is."

"Alright, now that that's out of the way I can send you on your way." Kaien said, unsheathing his blade. "Don't worry, I'm not going to cut you with the blade or anything. It's just difficult to do this with the scabbard still on."

"Eh… right. So should I do anything?" Lewis asked.

"Just stand still." Kaien said. "And don't worry; I've done this about a dozen times now. You should be just fine."

As Kaien advanced on him, Lewis heard something from down below. A great rushing of wind as something flew up behind him, grabbing him by the back and hauling him upwards. Yelping in surprise, Lewis's head jerked up to see a pure white mask with boar-like tusks on the body of a great black batlike creature with taloned feet. There was no mistaking it. This was a Hollow.

"Mmm! Tasty soul!" another new voice cackled. It didn't take long for it to notice the presence of Kaien. "Ah, another one! That one is much tastier looking than this scraggly thing. I'll save you for later!"

The Hollow tossed Lewis up into the air and he started screaming and flailing, his ascent into the sky completely uncontrollable. He began tumbling over backwards, the world around him starting to merge into a single blue white and grey blur. There was a shout, a the drawn out scream of the Hollow and a single slashing sound before Lewis came to an abrupt halt as Kaien caught him in mid-air.

"Good thing I already had my zanpakuto out, huh?" He chuckled. "That was a bit too close for comfort."

"No kidding." Lewis gulped. "Just what the hell was that thing?!"

"A Hollow. If you'd gone tugging on that chain on your chest like I told you not to, you probably would've turned into one of them if you hadn't been moved onto the Soul Society. Speaking of which, let's set you down somewhere and send you on your way."

As they touched down on the other skyscraper, Lewis sat down.

"I really feel like I need to repay you somehow for saving me." Lewis said.

"Ah, I'm just doing my job." Kaien shrugged. "But if you really feel like it, you could always try to join the 13 Court Guard Squads. Being a Soul Reaper is a tough work, but it gets easier when there are friends to share the load."

"If it'll repay my debt to you, I'll try." Lewis nodded.

Kaien gave a smile. "Good to hear. Now, about that Soul Burial…"

Kaien pressed the butt of the zanpakuto down on Lewis's forehead. As Lewis felt his eyes glaze over and a strange light overtake him, one last thought went through his mind.

'My name is Kouki Shin… And I have a debt to be repaid.'

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Kouki awoke standing upright. This was the least bizarre thing to him as when he looked around, he saw that he was in some kind of feudal Japanese shrine.

"What the…" he began, but he was interrupted by a door sliding open. In the doorframe stood an old man in a white robe, his beard and moustache trailing down to his chest and his eyebrows almost that far.

"Ah, a new arrival. And such a young one at that. Such a shame to have your life cut short when it's only just begun." He said in a somewhat shaky voice. "Still, it is still possible to live your life here in the Soul Society. I suppose you have many questions. I will do my best to answer them."

Kouki gave a nod as he looked around. "For starters, where am I exactly?"

"As I said, you are in the Soul Society. Specifically you're in the Rukongai, which is more or less the civilian district." He explained. "This particular shrine is in the Western quarter, district three. It's also known as Hokutan."

"Right. Gotcha." Kouki nodded. "So… what's with the change of outfits?"

True to his words, he was wearing something different. Instead of his decidedly modern attire, he was wearing a white yukata with green bamboo stalk designs imprinted on it.

"Ah yes. I've always wondered about that myself." The old man chuckled. "Well, I suppose life isn't really worth living if there isn't any mystery to it. Or afterlife in this case."

"I see. Well it wouldn't be the first time I didn't get an explanation to something." Kouki huffed. "So what do you do here then?"

"Me? Why I'm the Greeter of course. You may call me Uketsuke." He said. "Oh, that reminds me. I need to give you this."

From out of his voluminous sleeves Uketsuke produced a red ticket and handed it to Kouki.

"What is it?" he asked.

"To put it bluntly, it's a record of when you died. Think of it as a death certificate. You'll need it for a lot of the official business in the Soul Society. Be sure not to lose it."

"Good to know." He nodded, putting the ticket into a pocket on the inside of his yukata.

"You might want to look at the communal housing." Uketsuke continued. "There's always a room there while you're looking for a family to call your own. Not that the families here are blood related, but it is still good to live with someone you can call your family."

"I see." Kouki nodded. "So where might this communal housing be?"

"I can take you there if you wish." The old man offered.

"That'd be great."

And so the two headed off into the Rukongai. Kouki's new home.

"So what is there to do in the way of work here?" Kouki asked as they passed through a bustling marketplace.

"Well, there's always work to be done. No rest for the wicked as they say." Uketsuke chuckled. "There are some smiths that may be on the lookout for apprentices, scribes for the library, that sort of thing. Hokutan is very much the mercantile capital of the Rukongai, so some work should make itself available to you given enough searching."

"So what about the Soul Reapers?"

"Ah, so you've heard of them have you? Unsurprising really. Most of us were led here by them. If you plan on joining their ranks then you'll have to apply. There's a monthly entrance exam if you're interested."

"What do they look for in this entrance exam?"

"Honestly I wouldn't be able to tell you. I've never taken it." Uketsuke said. "It might not seem much, but I prefer the quieter civilian afterlife. Besides, I have my place here. Ah, we arrive."

Before Kouki was a fairly large building of white stucco and timber with a few sliding doors facing out into the street. Through the open doors Lewis could see a few people lounging around inside with another group playing a game of mahjong on one of the tables.

"There should be an empty room in there. There always seems to be. You'll be able to stay for as long as you like, but you'll probably want to move out once you find a family you can stay with."

"Good to know." Kouki nodded. "Say… where's a nearby forest? Somewhere quiet and a bit isolated?"

"Ah, need to gather your thoughts? That's perfectly reasonable." Uketsuke nodded sagely before pointing down a street past the communal house. "If you keep down that road you should find a track leading to Koifushi Mountain. It's sometimes used as a training ground, so be careful."

Kouki gave another nod. "Thanks for telling me all of that. You've been very helpful."

"Of course!" Ukestuke said jovially. "It's what I intended to do. So many people come through here and are just confused and bewildered by this new world. Take your time and get to know this place. Welcome to the Soul Society my young friend."

With that, Ukestuke gave a bow and shuffled off into the hustle and bustle of Hokutan. Kouki took off down the track at a quick jog, making his way through the steadily thinning crowd until he reached the forest surrounding the mountain as well as finding a track through the forest. As he began marching down the track, Kouki took in the sights and smells of the forest, feeling the cool air under the canopy of the trees, hearing the insects skittering amidst the undergrowth and birds nestling in the trees. He continued walking for a good few hours, his footsteps the only real sounds he heard besides the rustling of the trees of the gentle wind. The trail began to slope upwards and Kouki began to climb the mountain, going up at the same brisk pace he'd been walking at before. As the sun slowly descended Kouki found himself at a relatively flat circular plane, a miniature mesa overlooking the Rukongai. It was here that Kouki stopped and stood, the wind on the mountain blowing his short hair and yukata.

He looked around. Nobody could be seen. Kouki gave a breath before inhaling deeply and letting out a single wordless scream. A scream that encompassed his terror from the Hollow attack, his confusion at even being thrust into this strange new world and his anger at his own vague amnesia. Eventually he ran out of breath, so he inhaled again and kept screaming. After spending a few minutes ruining his throat Kouki collapsed into a sitting position looking at the stars, breathing heavily.

'I can't believe I'm really here. I can't believe this is all real.' He thought, grabbing a handful of dirt from the ground and letting it trail through his fingers. 'But it is real. I'm actually here. I wind up dead in a fictional universe and then I get saved from an imaginary person from a fictitious monster that devours souls, then I get my name changed and sent off to the afterlife! And for some reason I can't even remember how I got here in the first place…'

With all of his repressed emotions out of the way, Kouki began to think. He'd definitely been in Japan for a holiday, that much was certain. He was surely just walking somewhere at night and then got hit by a car. That was understandable. But presumably that car just happened to be the DeLorean from Back To The Future because now he was stuck in an alternate dimension filled with soul eating monstrosities. But it was **when** he was that really interested him. Tucking his knees up to his chest, he began to think.

'Okay, so Kaien Shiba is still alive. I guess that means this is some time before the events concerning Ichigo and company then. But that means that Aizen is still hanging around conducting evil schemes and shit. Since I have some insider knowledge I might be able to help put Aizen under arrest before he can carry out his schemes. But then again… He could kill me dead. Deader than dead. That is not an appealing prospect.' He thought. "Augh, what do I do? I need to repay my debt to Kaien, but doing so puts me in harm's way. Jeez, that seems really terrible to say out loud…"

His thinking continued as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky, the clouds turning a vibrant orange. His contemplating went on for quite a while before he stood up again. He'd been sitting there for what seemed like hours, recalling all the times he'd just given up or changed his plans. He gave a sigh. Surely this time would be no different. Kouki stood with his head bowed as he wandered down the mountain path against a sky on fire.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Time marched onwards for Kouki. Life in Hokutan wasn't too bad. It was a little difficult to adjust to, he would admit. The local diet consisted of a lot of vegetables and grains, but at least he was eating healthy. But he was bored out of his mind.

He was lying on his back in the common room of the communal housing, thinking about his place in all of this. It was probably for the best that he stayed out of everyone's way. If he tried to go meddling in anything he'd probably end up dead, or worse, doing even more damage to everyone around him. When the shit hit the fan he didn't want to be the one to kick the turbo button. Besides, being a Soul Reaper was insanely dangerous. Constantly fighting and hunting Hollows and maintaining the balance between souls. It wasn't the type of work for him. But then again, he didn't even have any work now. Neither did a lot of people in the common room. The two people who had been playing mahjong were still there. They might even have been playing the same game. Kouki hadn't seen either of them move from that spot for the entire time he'd been there. Another man with most of his teeth and hair missing was propped up against the wall, a half-empty bottle of sake in one hand and a puddle of drool forming beneath him.

Kouki grimaced. He'd been feeling an itch lately. The kind of itch that wasn't easily scratched. He wanted to buy things. He wasn't proud of it, but he felt like he had a mild addiction to buying new things. Not just any old things, but things he wanted. And lately he wanted a lot of things. A computer for one. It felt like it had been weeks since he'd last used a computer for entertainment, although he supposed it would be difficult to get such a thing in the Soul Society. Then his mind turned to other things, such as new clothing. The single bamboo print yukata he had hadn't been washed for a good few days and it was starting to stink. But he'd also heard good things about the pub not far from the communal housing and he'd been meaning to try out the local brews. He'd never tried sake before. But to get any of that he needed some money. What he needed was a job.

Kouki sat up and looked for his wooden sandals. He'd found a discarded pair after walking by the stream one day. They were worn and the once lacquered wood only had a few flecks of its original coat left, but once the mud was cleaned off them they made for perfectly serviceable footwear. They even fit perfectly. Granted they were a little hard to walk in, but they made him appear even taller, which he approved of.

After finding his sandals, Kouki headed out into the street. It was as crowded and bustling as ever, merchants of all spots and stripes hawking their wares to passers-by on the street, crowded shopfronts catered to by their frantic owners, porters hauling goods around and the regular civilians jostling around looking for wares to buy. Within the crowd Kouki could see an occasional Soul Reaper or two presumably on their off-time, although he didn't recognise any of them. He made his way from stall to stall, asking around if anyone had work available. But he was turned down from most of them. Eventually the crowd began to thin out as the day came to a close, but as Kouki was just about to give up he was waved down by a man standing behind a stall filled with ice and fish.

"Hey, you! Young man! Over here!" he called. "I hear you've been asking around for work."

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Kouki asked.

The man grinned, wiping his nose with his index finger and chuckling. "Word travels fast around here, 'specially during the day. The name's Arata Shun. What about you?"

"Kouki Shin. Good to meet you." He said, shaking Arata's hand.

"Likewise. Well Kouki, ever thought about life as a fisherman? It's slow work, but it's rewarding."

"Sure. I've been looking for work, but I've not gotten anywhere so far. When can I start?"

"Ha! An eager one eh? Good to hear! I'm going to be heading down to the river tomorrow morning with my brothers Gorou and Yori. I'll have a spare fishing rod for you by then." He said before giving an exaggerated harrumph. "Hopefully you'll be able to catch more fish than the other two bozo brothers I've got with me."

"You can count on me." Kouki nodded.

"Good to hear it! We'll be down by the riverbank by tomorrow morning, so don't forget. Now be off with you, I've still got customers to take care of!"

Kouki trotted away, a satisfied grin on his face. He'd gotten a job on his first day looking for one! Talk about lucky. Normally it would've taken him weeks or months to find employment, but that was probably because he was just naturally lazy. But when he actually had something to do he knew he'd do it come hell or high water.

As Kouki walked back to the communal house he pondered the events that led up to this point once more. He was surprised how well he'd been taking everything. From the name change, to the fact that he was now living in a fictional universe, even the fact that he'd died in said universe. It was a bit hard for him to comprehend, but for some reason he didn't feel like it especially mattered. There was an afterlife after all, so he wasn't really dead. Perhaps it wasn't the best way to put it, but it was the best he could come up with.

Kouki passed by the pub that he'd been meaning to check out, the building radiating light and noise as drinks and laughter was shared by those inside. Kouki gave a sad smile as he continued on his way. He hadn't managed to make a single friend during his entire time in the Rukongai. Maybe Ukestuke counted, but Kouki hadn't seen the withered old man since he'd arrived. He was starting to doubt he even existed. The Soul Society was a strange place after all, with a lot of weird biotechnology, supernaturalism and mystical elements about it. He hadn't seen anything truly bizarre, he'd have to go to Squad 12's headquarters to do that, but he didn't doubt that some of the weirdness had leaked out into the surrounding area, like a kind of weirdness radiation. He didn't doubt that the mad scientist that led Squad 12 didn't actually have something like that squirreled away in some kind of doomsday weapon locker.

Finally reaching the communal housing, Kouki stepped inside and dropped himself into his bunk. He'd have to be on time tomorrow.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Kouki's wooden sandals clattered on the beaten path as he ran for the riverside. He wasn't exactly sure how early Arata meant when he said 'morning', but Kouki was sure he meant earlier than it was now.

As he ran, he spotted the weathered man lounging around on a log by the river, their lines cast into the water. Along with him was another man lying on the grassy bank with a conical hat tipped over his face, a fishing rod held in his legs. Next to him sat a large dumpy looking man with an open vest over his bare chest and pants secured by a simple rope belt. Arata looked over to Kouki and waved to the young man.

"Ah, there you are!" he chuckled as Kouki got closer, breathing heavily. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

"I'm sorry I'm late." Kouki wheezed.

Arata stuck his fishing rod into a large hole drilled into the log he was sitting on before fiddling with a tobacco pipe. "Ah, no need to be so apologetic. You didn't strike me as the type that's used to gettin' up early anyways. But we'll soon fix that, won't we?" he cackled. "By the way, these are the brothers of mine I told you about. The layabout here is Gorou."

The man lying on the ground tipped back his hat to see Kouki and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Whoa! You might be as tall as Yori!" he gasped before slapping Yori on the back. "Hey Yori, stand up so we can see if he's taller than you!"

"I don't feel like it." Yori yawned as he kept his eyes on his fishing lure bobbing gently in the water.

"Aw come on Yori, don't be like that." Gorou complained.

Gorou had facial features one might liken to a rat or similar small rodent, and limbs were reedy and wiry. Yori on the other hand was greatly overweight and almost a head taller than Kouki, even while Kouki was sitting on the log beside Arata. As Kouki sat down Arata handed him a very basic fishing rod, nothing more than a smoothened wooden stick with a line on the end. There was even a single green leaf jutting from the rod about halfway along it.

"You know how to fish don't you Kouki?" Arata asked.

"I've casted a line once or twice." Kouki nodded. "Got any bait?"

"Sure do." He said, picking up a small pail filled with chopped lumps of meat. "Got some special stuff here. The fish in this stream love it."

Kouki took the hook on the end of his line, affixed a bit of bait into it and cast it into the water.

"Mm. Not a bad cast. Although you'll want to put a little less power into your swing. Fishing is a graceful art after all." Arata said, lighting his tobacco pipe.

Kouki gave a small snort of laughter. "I'd never once thought fishing to be graceful."

"Ah, you'll learn." The old man smiled before his line started tugging. "Oh, I think I've got one!"

Arata snatched up his fishing pole as he yanked hard with a ferocious yell, dragging a great fat fish out from the river and onto the bank. Arata laughed as he dropped the fish into a chest filled with ice.

"Look at that boys, our first catch of the day! I get the feeling we're going to have a good day today!" he laughed.

Kouki looked out over the water and smiled. He felt like he was finally starting to fit in around here.

A/N

A/N

A/N

Hello gentle readers, Shrubs here!

Wow, been a while since I've written a Bleach story. After a lot of other stuff I've decided to go back to my roots and try something a little different. With this story I'm going to try a slower pace than my other ones which usually blitz by so fast I have a hard time keeping up with all the stuff I want to put in it. Either that or I burn myself out too quickly and end up abandoning them. I might go back to them one day. One day.

Oh yeah, and you may be wondering why this is called Wannabe Reaper GV. Well, the GV stands for Good Version because I have another version on my computer that never went beyond 1000 words and is really, really shit. Also I'm a sucker for two letter acronyms. Sue me.

Have any thoughts or opinions on this new slower pace or just want to point out spelling errors? Be sure to put them in a review. I'll be sure to read it! Thanks for reading and I hope I see you around for the future chapters.

-The Shrubbery King


	2. Book 1 (2): A Soul's Everyday Life

Kouki wandered down the streets of Hokutan, a small purse filled with coin in his pocket. It was his first pay since starting his new job fishing with Arata and his brothers, and he was going to spend it wisely. He'd also found out that the currency used in the Soul Society was Kan, which he supposed was based on Yen or vice-versa. He was used to decimal currency but he figured it wouldn't be too difficult to adjust to this new system.

As the smell of his old yukata wafted into his nostrils, he reminded himself why he was here. He needed to find some new clothes, quickly. Fortunately he'd discovered the location of a little shop that could help him solve that problem.

Kouki jostled his way out of the busy street and into the quiet shop. The interior was very serene, somehow almost entirely cut off from the noise emanating from the street outside. The inside was filled with clothing of all kinds, from formal to casual. Although it all seemed to fit the basic fashions of the Rukongai, so Kouki didn't see any familiar t-shirts or jeans. After spending about a minute browsing around in the shop a woman stepped out from a backroom to speak with him.

"Hello there, can I help you today?" she asked

The woman looked about his age, although she was about half a head shorter than him. Her shoulder-length hair was black and pulled down in a single large braid, a few errant strands hovering loose in defiance. Her rectangular frameless glasses over her black eyes reflected the light from the doorway, causing it to shine in Kouki's eyes.

"Hey, what's with the look?" she huffed, putting her hands to her hips.

"Huh?" Kouki asked, who had been squinting in reaction to the light. Quickly stepping out of the way he gave a nervous chuckle. "Oh, sorry. The light was just reflecting off your glasses."

"Really? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so judgemental." She said.

"That's fine. I guess we just got off on the wrong foot, so let me try that again. I'm Kouki."

"Hinata." She replied with a smile. "Now is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well I have been looking for some new clothes. I haven't really had anything else to wear while washing this one." He said, tugging at his yukata. "I don't really need anything fancy, just something simple."

"In that case you've come to the right place." She said. "I'll need to take your measurements first."

And so Kouki stood in various poses for a good few minutes while Hinata took his measurements and jotted them down on a bit of paper.

"There, all done." She said, sliding the writing implement into her braid. "If you check back in tomorrow I should have it ready by then."

"You run this shop all by yourself?" Kouki asked.

"Yes, I've been doing so for the last three hundred years." She said proudly.

"Three hundred?! How ha- " Kouki gasped before realising where he was again. "Oh right, this is the afterlife. I guess that's just something I haven't gotten used to yet about this place."

Hinata's brow furrowed a little. "You're new to the Rukongai?"

"I only arrived here a couple of weeks ago." Kouki nodded. "It's been a weird experience for me so far, but I'm adjusting."

"You mustn't be any older than twenty then." She assumed.

"I'm about nineteen years old." Kouki nodded. "What about you? You must've been here for a lot longer to have owned this shop for three centuries."

"I came to the Soul Society during the late Edo Period. I was the fifth daughter of a noble who was tried for treason. Unfortunately my mother was also a part of the conspiracy and so as punishment that meant our entire family line was executed. I was two months from my twenty third birthday on the day of my execution." She said before laughing. "I must say, it was quite the rude awakening to know that nobility in the human world didn't carry over to the afterlife! But luckily I adapted and learned to sew and opened this shop."

"Good to hear it all worked out in the end." Kouki nodded. "But still, that's quite an age difference between us."

Hinata giggled slightly, putting a hand over her mouth. "That is very true. But it is a shame you died so young. I am sure your wife is distraught about your passing."

"My wife?" Kouki echoed. "I don't have a wife. In fact I never really had a… well, never really courted a girl before dying."

"Really? That's a surprise." She said. "Most people your age would have already been married and had heirs. I suppose that's just how times have changed."

Kouki nodded. "Well I suppose I should come back tomorrow. Thanks by the way."

"Oh, no problem!" Hinata said brightly.

Kouki trotted out of the shop and back out into the street, the noise of the crowd once again assaulting his ears. It was a strange encounter to be sure, meeting someone who looked his age but was actually his age almost sixteen times over, if not more. Kouki looked around at the crowd of people he walked through, wondering just how old the people around him were. It was strange to think the children playing in the street as venerable ancients and the old man bent over his own walking stick to be comparatively young. Then he remembered something about Renji and Rukia. Apparently they grew up in the Soul Society. Did that mean that people could be born into the Soul Society? Also how they grew up presumably meant that people still aged in the Soul Society, albeit very slowly. But that also presumably meant that even in the Soul Society people still could die.

"What a strange and fascinating world." Kouki muttered to himself.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Later that day Kouki was sitting with Arata, Yori and Gorou as the four of them cast their lines into the river. Kouki stretched and yawned, looking up to the sky as it slowly changed hues.

"Looks like it's getting late." Gorou said. "Think we should pack it in soon?"

"Just let me catch one more fish." Kouki said as he gently moved his fishing rod around. "I should catch one any second now."

"Come on, you can't just catch fish just like that."

But even as Gorou said this, Kouki's line was tugged into the water. Kouki shifted his grip and pulled on the fishing rod, hauling a turtle out from the water.

Kouki stared at it in confusion for a second before Yori piped up.

"Well… it isn't a fish." He said.

"Yeah, see? Told you." Gorou said.

"Well I think now's a good time to pack it in." Arata groaned as he stood up off the log. "Kouki, after we put these by the stall we're all heading to the pub. Want to join us?"

"Sure. I've been meaning to go anyway." Kouki nodded as he unhooked the turtle from the fishing rod, jerking his finger away as the turtle tried to snap at it.

The group of four wandered down the streets of Hokutan, their catch slung over their shoulders or sitting in buckets filled with ice. After they arrived they spent a good few minutes putting their catch in tightly woven baskets of bamboo and putting them in the chilled recesses of the stall, lamplight beginning to brighten the slowly dimming streets. After that, Arata led the way to the local pub. Both Yori and Gorou were in a great mood, almost visibly glowing as they walked down the street with anticipation and excitement for going to the pub.

Finally they arrived. The building had several screen doors open to a covered porch where several men and women sat, shooting occasional glances at the inside. Warm yellowed light spilled out into the streets as occasional phantom shapes in the windows moved and danced like a shadow puppet play. But tonight the pub seemed much louder now than it was when Kouki last passed it by, the voices inside still as merry as ever.

"What d'you suppose is going on in there?" Arata asked.

"Not sure. Hope there's still enough room on the inside though." Gorou shrugged.

As they entered Kouki saw what all the hubbub was about. The entire pub seemed to be entirely filled with Soul Reapers, each one with black robes and zanpakutos aplenty. It was as if a whole flock of heavily armed crows had decided to go out drinking for the night.

"Jeez, look at how many there are." Yori said in amazement.

"Why d'you suppose they're all here?" Gorou asked.

"I'd guess to have a drink." Kouki chimed in.

"Aye, like we should be." Arata nodded as he walked into the establishment.

As the rest of the group wandered in, they couldn't help but feel a little out of place. Luckily there was still a free table for four and they sat down before placing an order for their drinks. Despite Kouki's predictions they actually did have something more than sake, although the menu was still relatively limited. While they waited for their drinks, Kouki was looking around at the Soul Reapers, wondering if there were any that he might be able to recognize. After a few minutes of scanning the pub, he could see three. Unsurprisingly Rangiku was there, and accompanying her was Shuhei and Izuru. Kouki wouldn't have pegged him as one to go out drinking given his personality, but it didn't really matter. Although Kouki had a sneaking suspicion that the rest of the Soul Reapers in the pub were accompanying Rangiku.

Arata, seeing Kouki looking around the pub, put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Kouki, they're not going to try anything funny around here. This is a pub-lic place after all!" he laughed.

The terrible joke made Kouki groan at first but it grew to a chuckle. "You've got to admit that pun was pretty terrible."

"Aye, but you still laughed." Artata smirked. "Ah, looks like our drinks are here."

Sure enough a woman had come along with a tray laden with bottles and glasses before putting them down on the table and moving swiftly along. Yori poured out the sake and they all began drinking, each one of them going at their own pace. Yori, being the huge man that he was drank straight from his bottle of sake, while Arata was taking his time and savouring his drinks. Gorou was kicking back his drinks, presumably only in it for the effects of the alcohol rather than the taste. Kouki meanwhile was somewhere in the middle, enjoying himself but not trying to dispose of the liquor. About three drinks in, the conversation started to deviate to a topic that was currently surrounding them.

"You know, I woulda thought that there woulda been pubs in that Seireitei of theirs." Gorou said.

"Is that what that big place is in the middle of the Rukongai?" Kouki asked.

"Yup. Them Soul Reapers can come and go as they like, but we can't go into the Seireitei." Arata snorted. "At least, not without permission of course."

"Is it just a military installation then?" Kouki asked.

"From what I hear a buncha nobles and other people live in the Seireitei." Gorou put in. "You've gotta have heard of the Kuchki clan by now, right?"

"A little bit." Kouki nodded. It was true enough that he'd heard the name Kuchki plenty of times, but he'd never really learned that much about them besides the fact that Byakuya was the family head and had adopted Rukia.

"It's more like a castle town." Yori said. "But it's much bigger than any castle I've ever worked on."

"You built castles?" Kouki asked.

Yori smiled warmly. "Sure did! I was an architect and builder during the Sengoku Period. I worked on quite a few castles in my time, built some of the best. Although my career was cut short after a loose slab of masonry fell on my head when I was showing the local lord around his new home."

"Yeesh. Messy way to go." Gorou said.

"What about you then?" Kouki asked.

"From what I remember of it I died of hypothermia. Not really a fun experience." He said. "Don't want to repeat it if I can help it. You?"

"Hmm, how should I put this…" Kouki muttered. "I was hit by a moving vehicle. Knocked to the street and killed. I think it knocked a few of my memories loose too. I can't remember the event itself. All I remember is standing over my dead body."

"Oh yeah, you're new here aren't you? So you'd be from the modern human world huh? Hey, did those arquebus things ever catch on?" Yori asked. "Hearing them go off every day and night gave me the willies."

"Well, sort of." Kouki said.

"As for me, I drowned in a stream." Arata nodded, lighting his pipe.

"Really? If that's the case then why are you still a fisherman?" Gorou asked.

Arata gave a sigh as he picked up his glass studying the sake inside it. "For a good few years I was afraid of the water. Every time I heard running water it'd give me the heebie jeebies. But after a while I became determined. I wasn't going to let myself be cowed by a little water. So I decided to face my fear head on and try to overcome it." He explained. "I used to love the water. I still do. I missed the love I felt for it and from the success I've found as a fisherman, I suppose it's missed my love too! Ah ha ha ha!"

"I'll drink to that." Yori smiled.

"Cheers!"

As the small group drank, Kouki noticed that their drinks were getting a little low.

"Hey guys, I'm going to get us another round." He said as he stood up. Kouki was only able to make three steps away from the table before he bumped into someone. That someone just happened to be about two heads taller than him and was scarred from head to foot. Most likely someone from Squad Eleven if Kouki had to guess. But what he didn't have to leave to conjecture was the fact that he looked **pissed**.

Kouki audibly gulped as the huge man glared at him, breathing heavily.

"Hey twerp, where d'you get off bumping into people like that?!" he growled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to." Kouki said, holding his hands out in front of him defensively.

Gorou leapt up from his chair and stood behind Kouki. "Hey, you leave him alone!"

"What, you want to fight?!" the Soul Reaper challenged.

"No we most certainly do not!" Kouki shouted, pushing both of them apart. Evidently, this had some rather adverse effects on the Soul Reaper.

"Don't you touch me!" he shouted, lining up a swing with his fist at Kouki.

Kouki raised his forearms in defence but he saw something flash out of the corner of his eye as a hand caught the man's elbow and held it back. The man turned to shout something at the other man but his words were caught in his throat as he fell on his buttocks in surprise.

"C-Captain Kyoraku!" he stammered.

If Kouki had been sitting he would've fallen out of his chair. Standing right in front of him was a Soul Reaper Captain, a being of incredible power and skill in combat.

But at the moment he looked like he'd been run over by a bus.

Underneath his tilted bamboo hat his hair was a complete mess, his face looking decidedly ruddy from all the sake he'd been drinking. His pink kimono was pulled at an odd angle and his robes were open. But even as he stood over a cowering member of Squad Eleven, his face was decidedly good natured and serene.

"Now what's with all the rough-housing? We're all here to have a good time, right?" he asked before turning his attention to Kouki. Looking the young man up and down, Shunsui eventually came to an interesting conclusion. "Hey kid, you kinda look like me!"

"Huh?" Kouki asked, caught a little off guard.

"Yeah! We both got a beard and hairy arms, though your hair's a little short!" he laughed, ruffling Kouki's hair much to his chagrin. "Say kiddo, why don't you come drink with us?"

"Really?" Kouki asked. "Is that okay?"

"Come oooon. It'll be fuun~." He said.

Kouki turned to the others sitting at the table. "You guys want to come too?"

Arata shook his head. "Nah, me and my brothers should be right here. You go make s'more friends Kouki."

Kouki gave a nod and followed Shunsui to another table, this one with significantly more bottles and glasses piled up on it. Most of them probably belonged to either Shunsui or the other heavy drinker at the table, Rangiku, who was looking decidedly… looser. Although that probably wasn't the best way to put it. Meanwhile Izuru was busy staring at the ceiling muttering something inaudible and possibly incomprehensible while Shuhei was staring off into space with his arms folded looking like he was about to fall over before his gaze snapped towards their new arrival.

"Hey guys, meet my new friend here. He looks just like me!" Shunsui said woozily. "His name's uh… wait, what was your name again?"

"Lew- I mean, Kouki." He said, introducing himself to the wasted Soul Reapers.

"Lukouki? That's a funny name…" Rangiku giggled.

"Ah never mind that. Anyway Kouki I hope you don't take what that guy said to heart. Not all of us are like that." Shunsui said.

"Don't worry about it. I know not to judge a whole organisation based on just a single member." Kouki said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you to say that." Rangiku slurred. "Say, do you come here often?"

"N-not really. In fact I think this is the first time I've ever tried sake." Kouki began before this revelation caused Shunsui and Rangiku to gasp.

"Really? Well we **have** to fix that." Rangiku said urgently. "Izuru, can you get us another round? Pretty please?"

"Hmm? Sorry?" he mumbled.

Rangiku began pawing at Izuru's chest, and Kouki noted that she was using hers to ample effect. "Could you please get us another round of sake?"

Izuru, being a man, was entirely unable to refuse this request and stood up, determined to get another round of sake.

"Well that's not to say I've not been out drinking before. I just never tried sake." Kouki said.

"Oh, really?" Shunsui asked, looking physically relieved. "False alarm then."

As Izuru returned with the drinks Shunsui began to try and sing a drinking song. However he only managed to get out the first three words of the song before seemingly forgetting the rest.

"Darn it, how did that song go again?" he muttered to himself.

"I know a drinking song." Kouki put in. "Well, sort of."

"Really?" Rangiku asked. "Well let's hear it!"

Meanwhile if one were standing on a roof of the Rukongai, one might see a very unusual sight. Something white was flashing across the many interconnected rooves of the Rukongai, pausing occasionally to glance around before vanishing again. This flashing white streak eventually settled on the street in front of a crowded pub.

Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya was not having a good day.

For starters, he hadn't seen Rangiku for a solid fifteen hours. This was unusual as while she never really did any paperwork, she'd still be somewhere in the Seireitei. But then he began noticing that more than a few members of his division were also missing, as well as Captain Kyoraku and Lieutenant Hisagai. It didn't take long to put two and two together.

And so he had spent hours running around searching for his runaway lieutenant in all the sectors of the Rukongai. He really should have sent a messenger for this job, however several incidents beforehand when he had done so had not exactly resulted in success. So his hand was forced and he had to do it himself.

Hitsugaya stalked towards the pub, several regular citizens of the Rukongai who had been sitting on the porch scampering off at the sight of him. He didn't even have to be inside to tell that Matsumoto and Kyoraku were in there. In fact, the deafening sound of singing was more than enough. As he entered the pub, the sound of the song seemed to completely drown out any presence his voice might have.

 _ **Oh 'e had his filling!**_

 _ **Tequila swilling!**_

 _ **Oh 'e put out the flames 'nd it earned him the name,**_

 _ **Fire Marshal Willy!**_

And standing on three adjoined tables were the ringleaders of this drunken circus. Kyoraku was in a perilous position and almost falling off the adjoined tables while Izuru and Shuhei had wrapped one arm around each other and were swaying in time to the song. A group of random civilians were also joining in, several of whom were drinking with the rest of the Soul Reapers. And finally, aggravatingly, there was Matsumoto, who had just almost crash-tackled one of the random civilians into a bear hug and was drunkenly cackling, presumably having not paid a cent for all the drinks she'd had that night. On a slightly better note, Hitsuguya's eyebrow stopped twitching. However it was soon replaced with almost all of his veins bursting from his forehead.

" **MATSUMOTOOOOOOOOOOO!** "

The entire pub stopped as an icy chill filled the air. It was as if the atmosphere in the pub had shifted from a warm gathering of friends to icy and frigid wasteland.

"Oh no…" one of the civilians said, clutching at his head in fear. "It's happening again!"

Several other Soul Reapers watched in confusion as the one who said this began shrieking like a man possessed before sprinting towards one of the walls and diving out of an open window. Hitsugaya meanwhile had locked his gaze on the orange haired woman who had her mouth open in a dumb and terrified smile. Kouki was also feeling his skin go numb, which wasn't just caused by the alcohol. It was the kind of delicate fear so seamlessly blended by two circumstances. One: There was an impossibly furious Soul Reaper Captain standing amidst a whole bunch of Soul Reapers who probably should've been doing paperwork, which was something that the Captain in question was adamant about his subordinates doing. Two: He could feel Rangiku's breasts in his back and her arms around his shoulders.

With these combined factors, Kouki was able to make out both visible frost forming around Hitsugaya's feet as well as a large dragon shaped aura hovering around the Captain. That, combined with the purest sense of primal fear he'd ever felt was far more than enough to convince him to leave, despite his drunken demeanour.

"Uh… Arata?" Kouki began. "I think Gorou had the right idea…"

Arata nodded vigorously. "Good thinking Kouki. Come on Yori, let's leave these Soul Reapers to their uh… business."

As Kouki, Arata and Yori made their excuses and left, they picked up Gorou off the dirt and ran for the house. Nobody wanted to be anywhere near what was surely about to happen to their favourite pub. Least of all Kouki, whose mind was going at a million miles an hour with panic and terror.

'Shit, shit, shit, shit, **shit**!' his mind screamed. 'Hitsugaya is no joke! How can someone so short have such a terrifying level of power?! He didn't even **do** anything!'

The four continued to sprint into the night, not even looking behind them as Toshiro's spiritual pressure spiked and scores of Soul Reapers flooded out, running in terror of Captain Hitsugaya.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

The next day, Kouki was feeling surprisingly well. After fleeing the pub Kouki, Arata, Gorou and Yori had made their way to their home, which was a simple house with no more than five rooms separated by partitions. Looking around he saw Gorou had curled his futon around himself for extra warmth, muttering something about the chilling cold and deadly frost that pierced the soul. Yori of all people seemed to be awake but suffering from a hangover and Arata was snoring loudly, much to Yori's chagrin.

Needless to say, they probably weren't planning on going fishing that morning.

So Kouki got up, packed away the spare futon and left the house, sunlight assaulting his eyes. It was already midday! It struck him as odd, since they probably weren't out for that long. But then again, running for their lives from the blast radius of a Soul Reaper Captain's fury had probably drained a lot of their energy. Seeing as it was midday, Kouki decided that this was probably a good time to go back to the clothing shop to see Hinata. She did say his new yukata would be ready by now. Putting on his sandals and going into the street, he manuvered his way through the throng to find Hinata's shop. It didn't take him that long to do so, although he did have to make his way around a rather slow cart carrying seemingly hundreds of caged chickens. As he arrived at the shop, he saw Hinata taking the measurements of an old woman, whose hunch had made her appear half as tall as she probably was.

"Oh, there you are Kouki." She said as he entered the shop. "I'll be with you in just a moment."

"Never mind me Hinata, you talk with your friend." The old woman smiled. "I can afford to wait."

"Are you sure Miss Chika?" Hinata asked.

"Of course I'm sure. I'm not getting any older anyway." She laughed.

"Well if you insist." Hinata said. "I'll get your yukata for you Kouki."

Hinata disappeared into the back room for a brief moment before emerging with Kouki's new clothing. It was a deep blue yukata with thin vertical white stripes, the back of it emblazoned with an image of a fish in a lighter shade of blue with crossed out eyes and a zig-zag mouth.

"Oh wow, this is really good." Kouki said, feeling the fabric. "What's with the fish though?"

"You are a fisherman aren't you?" she asked. "I saw you fishing with the Shun brothers the other day, so I thought you might like the design."

"Yeah, it looks great. I'm just a little surprised you knew about that." Kouki nodded. "Thank you very much."

"It's no problem, really. I'm just doing my job after all." She said.

"Well you've certainly done a good job with this." Kouki said before another unrelated thought came to his mind. "Say, have you heard about what happened to the local pub the other night?"

"The pub? Oh, I heard that there were a lot of Soul Reapers there before the Head Captain appeared and destroyed the place!" she said, her eyes beginning to turn into stars. "But that was only because there were actually a group of strange monsters that were using the pub as their secret base of operations, and they were mind controlling the Soul Reapers into doing their bidding as well as making them dance like puppets for their own amusement!"

Kouki looked slightly aghast. The rumours about what had happened last night seemed to have spiralled out of control. Hinata blushed slightly, hiding her mouth with her hand as she looked away.

"I'm sorry. I just get a little carried away with rumours, that's all." She apologised.

"No, no, it's fine." Kouki said. "While I can't vouch for the pub being destroyed, I do know that it wasn't the Head Captain that had appeared."

"You were there?"

"Yep." He nodded. "It wasn't the Head Captain, but it was another Captain. I think I caught the name Hitsugaya, but that's about it. And when he entered the room everything suddenly got a lot colder."

"Ooh! That sounds scary." She said. "What else happened?"

"Well it was about that point that I had to leave. I can't lie, even though he was really short he was terrifying. He looked absolutely furious! And he must've been obscenely powerful if he was a Captain at that age." Kouki added. "Although I have been wondering about the place. It might actually have been destroyed. I don't think Arata would be too happy about that…"

Hinata nodded before speaking up again. "Maybe we should go there together and find out?"

"Hey, yeah. That's a good idea." Kouki nodded. "And if it is still standing I don't suppose you'd be willing to stick around for a few drinks?"

"Hmm… I might." She said coyly.

"Great! How about tomorrow night?" Kouki suggested.

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I'll meet you then at the pub." She said. "But right now I really must get back to my other customers."

"Oh, right." Kouki said. "I apologise."

"No need, no need." The old woman said, waving her hand dismissively.

Kouki folded up the new yukata under his arm and made his way to the communal housing. He had to change and wash his clothing.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

By around evening, Kouki had finished washing his old yukata and had put it on a line to dry. There wasn't really much to do besides what he was doing. He could be watching the old men play that same game of mahjong they always were playing, although they didn't seem very friendly and smelled slightly odd. He considered which yukata he should wear when he was going to the pub with Hinata. It was probably a good idea to wear the one she'd just made for him; however he had just washed his other one. Besides, he intended to use this one for work so it'd probably get permeated with fish smell.

Kouki leaned back, folding his hands behind his head as he looked up to the sky and saw pinpoints of light from the stars above poking through the purple and orange haze above all those below. He worried to himself.

'We barely know each other, but this seems a lot like a date.' He thought to himself, a slight frown on his face. 'Nah. I just want to get to know her. Make more friends. I'm allowed to have female friends. Even if I haven't had a girlfriend in… ever.'

Getting up he went to check on his drying yukata before returning to a sitting position on the porch and looking up to the stars. As he lay down he put his arms out to his sides, one of them hit his wooden sandals and hurt his knuckles, causing him to leap back up with a yelp of pain. Rubbing his hand he picked up the sandal and studied it with a frown. Turning it over in his hand, he noticed how bad they looked. Putting it back with its brother, he decided to ask Arata tomorrow morning if he had any lacquer or wood polish lying around.


	3. Book 1 (3): Promises Meant to Keep

The now familiar swish of fishing line arced over Kouki's head as he cast his line into the water, having just reeled it in and finding nothing.

A sigh went through the four that sat together on the riverbank. It had been quite a long time since any of them had caught anything today. Well, that wasn't completely untrue. Kouki had managed to snag his line around another wooden sandal that had been sunken into the muddy depths of the river. Kouki, who was also wearing his brand new yukata, gave another small groan as he saw that the sun had yet to even reach its apex.

"Man, it seems like today's just been kind of a waste of time." Gorou said.

"It's not even noon yet, we should keep trying." Yori insisted.

"No, Gorou's right. It's not that the fish aren't biting, the fact is that there aren't any fish." Arata said, pointing to the water. "Look, see for yourselves."

The river ran slowly and clearly, allowing the fisherman to peer into its depths. Normally they could see the glimmer of scales under the water or even the occasional fish leaping from the surface to devour a low-flying insect, but now there was nothing.

"Huh. Maybe breeding season's come early?" Gorou suggested.

Arata huffed. "Well whatever it is, we aren't going to get through the winter at this rate. We're going to have to look for extra employment."

"Aw, really? Jeez." Gorou sighed. "Guess I'm off to see old man Inu again."

"Old man Inu?" Kouki echoed.

"He's an old man that makes a living catching stray dogs and taming them. He lives out in one of the further districts of the Rukongai." Gorou explained. "It's not fun working for him, but he pays well. Or decently at least."

"Right." Kouki nodded as he reeled in his line. "It just doesn't make much sense to me that all the fish would just vanish like that."

"Ah it's just the way of life. Here today, gone tomorrow an' all that." Arata shrugged. "Come on boys, let's head home. We'll come back tomorrow and see if there are any fish then. If not then we go back to our winter jobs."

The others reluctantly agreed as they packed their things and the four of them headed back into town. As they were walking through town, they noticed that there were quite a few Soul Reapers amongst the crowd distributing flyers or pinning them against poles or buildings. In fact, one of them had just approached Arata, a Soul Reaper with long green hair and sunken features.

"Excuse me sir, but have you seen any of these individuals?" he asked, handing a flyer to Arata. "We've received reports that numerous people have disappeared from the area in recent days and so we are investigating the area."

"Really now?" Arata asked, scratching at his rough hair. "Hmm. I don't think I can help you there. I've never even heard of some of the folks listed here."

"I see." The Soul Reaper nodded. "Thank you for your time. If you find out any information of importance please tell one of the patrolling Soul Reapers."

Turning on his heel the Soul Reaper left to put up more posters and ask about the disappearances. Kouki narrowed his eyes and stroked his goatee in thought. He didn't know how common disappearances were in the Rukongai, but if Soul Reapers were getting involved it had to involve something supernatural. Then he paused to remind himself that the Soul Society was, by its very nature, supernatural.

'How long is it going to be until I fully realise that?' he mentally chastised himself.

But that wasn't important. What was important was that something was hanging around the area and whatever it was it warranted the Soul Reapers showing up. Meaning that it was most likely a Hollow.

This had the potential to become awkward.

He could raise the possibility that there was a Hollow in the area. But the Soul Reapers probably knew this or at least had this suspicion and had made plans for such an event. Alerting the general populace or Arata and his brothers would only really serve to cause a panic and lead to questions as to how he knew all this stuff in the first place. While he could probably get away with saying he'd just been attacked by one during his brief time as a wandering spirit, but that might not hold up to scrutiny. He'd have to play it safe and ignorant for now. But that didn't mean he had to be stupid.

During Kouki's pondering Arata, Gorou and Yori had been having their own conversation, although Kouki had been so deep in thought he almost hadn't heard them. It was Arata who snapped him out of his thoughts when he said "So Kouki, seems you're free for the rest of the day. Any plans?"

"Huh? Oh. Beyond finding work, I can't think of much." He said honestly. "Well, besides hanging out with Hinata."

"Hinata? You mean the seamstress?" Gorou said before gaining a malicious grin and wrapping an arm around Kouki's neck. "Heeey, have you got yourself a girl now? I never thought you to be that kind of rapscallion Kouki!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Kouki said defensively, trying to get Gorou's wiry arm out from around his neck.

Yori and Arata each gave bellowing laughs, Arata's only more coarse from his decades of smoking.

"Ah come on Gorou, no need to tease the boy just because you've not been with a lady in years!" Arata mocked.

"Hey, you haven't either!" Gorou accused.

Kouki gave a laugh as well, joining the amused chorus. What a colourful circle of friends he'd made for himself.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Kouki spent the rest of his afternoon cleaning up his sandals. Fortunately Arata happened to have some wood stain around as well as a pot of varnish, which after purchasing a bit of sandpaper allowed Kouki to polish them to a nice reddish-brown shine. He'd gotten some of it on his hands, but that was easily washed off by the river. He'd told Hinata that he'd meet her at the pub around evening, and it was getting to be around that time. So after making sure that his recently refined footwear was comfortable to wear he set out to the pub.

As he went he had noticed that the streets had noticeably less people on it for this time of day, probably due to the presence of the Soul Reapers that were still milling about or on patrol. But eventually he made his way to the pub where he saw Hinata standing outside in a colourful yukata of her own. When she noticed Kouki she waved him down before making her way towards him as he did the same.

"Hey Hinata." Kouki said.

"Took you long enough." She snorted. "I'd been waiting for five minutes already!"

"Well to be fair we didn't agree on an exact time." Kouki shrugged before noticing the pub. "I see the place is still standing."

"Yes, but they won't be open tonight." She said. "The owner is still recovering from the events of two nights ago. That Soul Reaper Captain really must've been something."

"They're closed? That's a shame." Kouki pouted.

"But," Hinata continued, holding up an earthenware sake bottle with a coarse string tied around its middle. "I was able to convince the owner to let me buy something for the road."

Kouki's ears perked up at this. "Sounds good. Know any good spots? I don't think we can go back to the communal housing for drinks. Unless we've got enough to share of course."

"Well, I suppose we could go to my house." She offered. "Either that or the training area on Koifushi Mountain."

Kouki shivered slightly. "I'm not sure we should go to Koifushi this late at night. You have heard about the disappearances, haven't you?"

She nodded. "It's strange. I'd never thought that there would be kidnappers this close to the Seireitei."

"Yeah, I'd been wondering about that myself." He said. "But let's not worry about such things. We set this time aside so we could get to be better friends, right?"

"Friends?" she asked as they started walking. "Oh. I think I might've gotten the wrong impression."

"I suppose that's a fair assumption to make, given the time you were from." Kouki shrugged. "But I'm not really one to go leaping into a relationship with someone I know little to nothing about."

"I see." She nodded. "It's truly interesting to see how things change with the times."

"Well the more things change, the more they stay the same. It's human nature really. It'll take more than a few hundred years to change such things."

Kouki and Hinata continued their chat as they continued walking, eventually arriving at Hinata's house. As they took off their sandals Hinata opened the door, revealing the inside as they entered. It was quite a bit larger than the house belonging to the Arata brothers, even though the number of rooms was roughly the same. Still, it was spacious enough with some sparse but good quality furniture including some mats and some tastefully arranged flowers. Kouki sat down on a cushion beside a small table as Hinata went to fetch something to drink with.

"It's a very nice house you have." Kouki mentioned as he looked around.

"Thank you." Hinata said as she returned with two odd square wooden cups before setting one down in front of Kouki. "Here you are. I haven't really had anyone come over so I never really invested in making my home look nice."

"Well you've certainly done well with what you have." Kouki nodded before investigating the odd cup. "I've never seen a square cup before…"

"Really?"

"No. Doesn't mean they don't exist of course. I mean I'm holding one right now." He mused as he poured himself some sake.

"You don't seem familiar with a lot of Japanese culture." She said wryly.

"Hmm. That is true I'm afraid." He said as Hinata sat down across from him. "I must admit I only died while I was visiting Japan from another country."

"So Kouki isn't your name?"

"Nope. It was given to me by the Soul Reaper who sent me here. He said it'd help me blend in a bit more and not attract too much attention to myself."

"So what is your real name?"

Kouki was about to answer before gaining a wry smile of his own. "What if I don't tell you?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, a hint of indignity in her voice.

"I don't think I've ever had an air of mystery cultivated around me before. I think it might be fun to try." He laughed.

Hinata stared at him, slightly dumbfounded. "Huh! Well I did buy you sake. I would think that not telling me your real name would be very rude."

"That is a very good point." Kouki nodded before taking a sip of sake. "You are quite the shrewd diplomat."

"Well I was the daughter of a noble." She said with pride.

"Very well my lady, I'll tell you." He said before bowing dramatically. "My real name is Lewis, but I am more commonly known as Kouki Shin, a humble fisherman. I am honoured to make your acquaintance."

This earned another chuckle from Hinata, who put a hand over her mouth to keep her amusement from showing before pouring herself some sake and joining in on the act.

"Honourable greetings, humble peasant. I am Lady Hinata of the Hasu clan, the Fifth daughter of Lord Takashi." She said with a posture that greatly resembled a smug cat.

"Good lord, we're not even drunk yet. This night can only go well." Kouki laughed.

"Maybe not you." Hinata said. "I'm a little bit of a lightweight when it comes to sake."

"Hey, look on the bright side. At least you'll be saving money."

Hinata gave a smile that was somewhere between nostalgic and grim as she put down her cup. "I remember my father was always talking about money. He obsessed over it for some reason."

Kouki took another sip. The tone of this conversation was getting a little too serious for drinking talk.

"He never saw any of us as his children. He just saw us as bargaining chips. He'd sell us off one by one to marry other nobles just so he could get more money." She continued, wringing her hands and taking sips from her cup. "I watched all my sisters marry into other families and all my brothers do the same. But for some reason I'd never been found a suitor. At least, until only a year before my execution. My father tried to give every last coin he had to save his own life. Not once did he speak of the loving wife that looked at him in shame or the children cowering behind the door. In the end all the coin he spent his life hoarding was worthless to him on the executioner's block."

"It sounds to me like you're glad to be rid of him."

Hinata sighed. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't." she said before taking a moment to study her hands and the numerous callouses that had formed on them. "Even so, I sometimes wonder what my father would have said if he'd seen his middle child sewing like a common peasant girl."

"You haven't seen the man in over three hundred years and you're worried about what he'd say?" Kouki asked incredulously.

Hinata didn't really have a response to this, merely looking into her cup.

Kouki sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean it like that. I just… ugh. Let's change the subject. It's getting a little sombre for my tastes."

"You're right." She nodded. "So what do you want to talk about?"

Before Kouki could speak his stomach grumbled loudly, causing Hinata to giggle again and put her hand over her mouth.

"How about food?" he chuckled.

"I might make us something to eat. I've gotten to be a fairly decent cook over the years." She said, getting up from the table and making her way to the kitchen.

Kouki sighed quietly and scratched his head. Tonight really wasn't going as he'd hoped it might. As he tried to think of a conversation topic that wouldn't result in a depressing atmosphere, Hinata let out a surprised scream from the kitchen, the sound of something heavy clanging to the floor.

Kouki leapt to his feet and stood at the doorway. Hinata was standing by a counter top, a dropped wok at her feet. Not far from her was a large snake, its scales fiery crimson and about the size of Kouki's arm. But what disturbed him the most was the eye-less pure white mask, with a four sharp exposed fangs in line with a row of blunt skull-like teeth.

"I… I've never seen a snake like that." She said quietly, the snake flickering its tongue in and out. "It just jumped in from the window!"

"Hinata, we have to get away from that thing." Kouki warned, kneeling down to pick up the fallen wok. "It's a Hollow."

"A Hollow?" she gasped, nervous sweat beginning to bead on her skin.

As she took a step back, the Hollow bared its fangs and leapt towards Hinata, but Kouki was just a moment faster as he swung upwards with the wok, its fangs piercing through the metal effortlessly.

"Come on!" Kouki shouted, grabbing Hinata's arm as they made a run for it.

"What should we do?" she asked, taking her arm back from Kouki.

Kouki responded as he shouldered open the front door, despite it being a sliding door. "We have to warn some of the Soul Reapers!"

As the two ran out onto the street, chaos erupted. People of all kinds were running out onto the streets, followed by snakes almost identical to the one Hinata and Kouki had encountered. People were being bitten to death by swarms of them, Soul Reapers ineffectually stabbing at them with their zanpakutos.

"We have to get out of here." Kouki said urgently as he turned to Hinata.

She nodded, her expression now serious. "We need to get to the mountain. Follow me!"

Hinata took off with Kouki keeping pace behind her. Glancing behind them, Kouki noticed something lighting up the night, the crackle of flames reaching his ears. Within moments Hokutan was burning.

They kept running. Soul Reapers ran past them as they rushed to deal with the problem, but the sheer number of snakes was staggering. Kouki glanced behind him again and saw that the Hollow snakes were literally covering the ground behind them, the sparse Soul Reapers sent to deal with the situation either becoming engulfed in the wave or fleeing to report to a superior. After darting through the streets and alleys of Hokutan the pair made their way into the open, the bamboo forest and the mountain trail not far from them. They didn't even notice the sharp and pointed rocks of the trail stabbing into their feet and slashing them, turning their feet ragged as they ran. But as they entered the depths of the bamboo forest and the trail began to climb Kouki noticed something that chilled him to the core.

The forest was silent.

There was nothing to hear beyond their haggard breath and ragged footsteps. No sounds of animals skittering in the undergrowth, no insects chirping on the thin bamboo leaves, not even the buzz of flies or mosquitoes in the air. The entire forest was dead. But there was no point in stopping. Eventually the two of them made it to the top, the dusty plateau on the mountain. As they looked across Hokutan, they could see the district burning. The fire had spread out of control as people struggled to fight to put out the blaze and control the snake Hollows. Kouki looked at the catastrophe with a slack jaw, wondering how this could happen.

"How… How did a Hollow get into the Soul Society?!" he breathed, gasping for air from his panicked run.

"Why were there so many of them?" Hinata gasped.

"I dunno. Hollows aren't normally that small." Kouki said before his eyes widened, a horrible conclusion dawning on him. "No way…"

"Kouki!" shouted another voice as its owner ran up the mountain trail.

Kouki and Hinata turned to see Arata and Yori running up the trail, with Yori carrying Gorou under his arm.

"Guys, you're alright!" Kouki said, the relief in his voice almost palpable.

"We heard all the fire and the screaming and figured here was the best place to come." Arata said. "But then Gorou got bit by some kind of snake!"

Gorou's face was twisted in immense pain, one of his legs rolled up to show a giant purple burn in the shape of a bite mark on his leg with four puncture wounds alongside it.

"That really doesn't look good." Kouki grimaced.

"I'm just wondering what happened to the forest." Yori said, taking a glance down at the bamboo surrounding the mountain.

Arata turned his attention to Kouki and likewise Hinata. "So Kouki, who's your friend there?"

"This is Hinata. We were planning on drinking tonight, but then this happened." Kouki explained. "Hinata, this is Arata. He's the one I work for."

"I wish we could've met under better circumstances." He said.

"Likewise." Hinata nodded.

"So what should we do about Gorou?" Kouki asked as he kneeled over his friend's wound.

"After all of this blows over we need to find him a doctor." Arata said. "It'll be expensive, but we have to get him some care."

Then there came a sound. Distant at first, but it steadily began to grow as something approached. It was a cacophony of slithering. Something was coming towards them. The Hollow had found them.

"Guys, we need to move!" Kouki said desperately.

"Move? Move where?! We're trapped here!" Arata shouted.

"Well we've got to do something!"

Yori took a look at the trail leading to the plateau, his eyes wide with horror. "Too late…"

The sound of hissing and slithering was almost deafening now as a huge swarm of snakes advanced on the five. But then they started to converge at a single point. They began to combine.

They began latching onto one another, the long body resembling a writhing piece of exposed sinew and muscle, the large snake head forming a scale-like pattern with a two holes with beady glowing yellow eyes and at its other end was its tail that gave a rattle as it shook, sending a chill down the spines of those that heard it. Kouki gulped, fear bursting from his eyes.

"Shit. I was right."

Then the Hollow began to speak, a single mouth opening wide with each hissing word.

"Ahhh, there you are." It said before chuckling darkly. "You didn't really think you'd escaped me, did you?"

"The bite wound." Yori gasped, looking at Gorou's leg.

Arata turned his head to Hinata and Kouki. "You two, see if you can climb down the mountain there." He said breathlessly, pointing over the edge of the plateau. "We'll try an' hold this thing off."

"What?! That's crazy!" Kouki said. "I can't let you just die here!"

Arata turned back to the slowly advancing snake Hollow. "Don't worry. I've had a good life here. If this is the way I go, then I'm fine with that."

"B-But this is the afterlife! We're already dead!"

"Kouki, y' don't know what the afterlife is for, do ya?" Arata asked. He paused, took his pipe from one of his pockets and lit it as he continued to speak. "The afterlife ain't just for livin' the way you always did. It's a time for reflection. Fer fixin' any regrets you had in life. To think about the life you led and what you could do to improve it. We ain't dead yet Kouki. And neither are you. Now get outta here before that monster gets to ya!"

Kouki struggled to move, his vision going blurry as tears began to form in his eyes. Hinata grabbed his forearm and began to run to the edge of the plateau, dragging Kouki behind her. Kouki clambered down before Hinata, the sounds of shouting echoing from over the edge. Still the two of them kept climbing down the steep rocky slope. Eventually they found a little overhang that overlooked the path through the forest.

"What do we do now?" Hinata gasped. "It's too far down to the path!"

Kouki looked at the long poles of bamboo and wiped a few tears from his eyes. "We're going to have to jump. Look, we might be able to grab onto those bamboo stalks." He said as he pointed to the forest. "It's a slight chance, but it's better than risking a broken shin."

Hinata gave Kouki a sour look. "I think we should save the puns for when we're not running for our lives."

"What? I- oh." Kouki began before realising what she meant. "Whatever. I'll go first."

He looked for the closest bamboo stalk, breathing deeply and psyching himself up for the jump. Then there was a deafening crack from above. Both of them looked up to see a large tree falling, and from the looks of it the tree would crush them if they didn't move! With a great yell both Hinata and Kouki leapt for their lives, the tree smashing the outcrop as it hit. Both flailed in the air as they sailed towards the forest, both grasping for the bamboo as they fell. Hinata wrapped herself around the pole, the green stalk wobbling as she hurriedly clambered down. Kouki meanwhile managed to grasp one, but his weight caused it to bend and break, causing him to hit another bamboo stalk. He fell, but not enough to seriously hurt himself. Hinata pulled him up off the ground and they continued to run, deciding to risk the fires of Hokudan than the danger of a Hollow.

The silence of the forest was destroyed when more snapping sounds were heard. Neither of them needed to look back to know that the Hollow was following them. There was a rattle and Kouki could feel the Hollow's hot breath rush towards them. Grabbing Hinata by the back of her yukata, Kouki leapt to the side of the trail as the Hollow launched itself at them and missed them by a hair's breadth. As Kouki and Hinata crashed to the forest floor and Kouki felt a sharp pain on his calf. One of the snakes had jumped from the Hollow and bitten into his leg! Kouki quickly spotted a broken shard of bamboo and stabbed it into the snake, causing it to writhe in pain and forcing it to let go. Kouki pulled himself and Hinata up and they ran, Kouki now having to limp from the pain of the acidic bite. The Hollow continued to laugh, its malicious chuckles echoing through the empty forest.

"I'm sorry I had to do all of this, really I am." It said as it hunted down the pair. "At first I tried to stop myself. I only ate bugs and birds and lizards, but then I ran out of them. So then I started eating fish and livestock. But then some of you humans wandered into my forest. I just couldn't help myself!"

The Hollow was faster than either Hinata or Kouki and soon caught up with them. It wrapped itself around the pair, squeezing them tightly in its grip.

"I just can't help it. The smell of you. The texture! Your taste! You're all just so… so…" it said as it leaned in close to them, its beady yellow eyes burning with maleficence in the dim night. " **Delicious**."

It opened its maw wide again and Kouki could clearly see the second row of its teeth phosphorescent white in the sparse light, illuminated by his burning home behind him. They were stained red, the scent of death carried in its breath.

But then something happened. Something that didn't result in Hinata and Kouki being devoured. In fact, it was as if the Hollow was unable to move at all. Its eyes darted around its head like shining golf balls in a tumble dryer.

"Wh-what's happening?!" it roared.

Then another voice joined them in the darkness.

"I know _Kageoni_ is a little hard to play at night," Said a lazy voice from further inside the darkness of the forest. "But I think the light from that fire should give us enough time for a quick game."

"A game?" the Hollow spat, its eyes locking to the source of the voice.

Kouki stared at the Hollow's long shadow to see someone standing on it. That man was Shunsui Kyoraku, a deadly look in his eyes. But more importantly he had his twin zanpakuto in his hands, already released in Shikai.

'What is he doing here?!' Kouki thought, his body still constrained by the snake Hollow.

"But I don't think this game's going to last very long since I already won." Shunsui continued.

The Hollow made another sound, a kind of strangled, guttural cry. Kouki looked back to the Hollow and saw that its head had been separated from its body before it was sliced neatly in two by an attack that was too fast to see. Hinata and Kouki dropped to the ground as the body of the Hollow vanished into nothingness. As the two coughed and sucked in air greedily Kyoraku walked towards them as he sheathed his zanpakutos.

"Hey, you two okay?" he asked.

Kouki coughed again as he staggered to his feet. "I… You saved our lives. I just…"

"Hey, I remember you." He said, snapping his fingers. "Kouki, right? The guy from the pub?"

"You remember me?" Kouki asked. "I… I don't mean to sound rude. I mean I'm grateful for the rescue, but what are you doing here? I wouldn't expect a captain to come take care of a single Hollow."

"Funny story actually." He said, scratching his nose. "I was just in town to apologise to that lovely lady at the pub for all the ruckus we caused a few nights ago when I noticed the place was on fire. Not only that the Soul Reapers I'd sent to investigate the rumours of disappearing townsfolk were either dead or nowhere to be found. Then I heard a lot of screaming coming from the forest and decided to see if anyone needed my help."

"Tha-thank you so much." Gasped Hinata as she bowed profusely. This immediately caught Shunsui's attention as he rushed over.

"You're not hurt are you? A cute girl such as yourself shouldn't have been attacked by a Hollow like that. It's a terrible injustice!" he said, holding Hinata's hand.

Kouki was sure that he might've made some kind of snarky comment if he wasn't still reeling from the sight of almost being devoured by a snake Hollow. He walked over, still limping from his wounded leg.

"Are either of you injured?" he asked.

"I got bitten by one of the smaller snakes." Kouki said. "I don't know if I've been poisoned or not. It feels like acid on my skin."

Kyoraku gave a nod. "Well, both of you should head back into the Rukongai. Squad Four should have a medical tent set up by about now."

Both of them nodded and walked back to town, chaperoned by the captain. The fire still raged on, burning the world that Kouki had only just gotten to know.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

The next day, Kouki sat on the steps of a half-destroyed building. It could've been a house or a shop, he honestly couldn't tell from the damage it sustained. He looked at the sky, bluer and clearer than it should have been for a day like today. He'd already been to the plateau.

There was nothing there. Not a damn thing.

Kouki stared aimlessly at the destruction all around him, reflecting on Arata's last words. Reflecting on the promise he'd made to Kaien that before now he'd been all too happy to let gather dust.

Kouki stood, faltering slightly from his wounded leg. His own fear be damned. He'd seen firsthand the destruction ordinary Hollows could wreak, and secondhand what more advanced forms were capable of. The first few people he'd really bonded with were gone. His home destroyed in flames. Hollows had taken this from him. He needed to fight them. He needed to become stronger and fight them.

He needed to become a Soul Reaper.

Hinata came running, her bare feet bandaged up like Kouki's. She stopped in front of him and Kouki turned to greet her.

"Hey Hinata."

"Kouki, I've been looking for you everywhere!" she said before straightening up. "Look, I need to tell you something."

"Same here," Kouki nodded. "But you go first."

"Well… my… my shop has been burned down." She said with a whimper in her voice. "My home is gone too. Everything… And that monster, that Hollow was the thing that caused this. I can't stand the idea of just letting this happen to other people. It might not be my place, and I'm scared to do it… but I want to become a Soul Reaper."

Kouki paused and gave a smile. "You know, that's pretty much what I wanted to say to you too."

"Really?"

"But if we're going to fight these things we'll need to enrol in the Academy together." Kouki said.

"But what if we don't make it?" she asked.

"Then we don't make it together." Kouki said. "I'll stick by you no matter what. I only ask that you do the same."

Kouki held his hand out and with a determined look, Hinata took it in hers.

"Deal."

* * *

A/N

A/N

A/N

Well howdy do folks!

Hope everyone likes the different pacing of this story. It's a bit difficult having to restrain myself for this, but hopefully it should be worth it.

Have any thoughts or criticisms or witticisms? Be sure to leave them in a review!

-The Shrubbery King


	4. Book 1 (4): Higher Education

It had taken Kouki and Hinata a while to find out when and where the monthly entrance exam would be taking place for the Shinigami Academy, but luckily it was only a single day away. It wasn't too difficult to find a new block of communal housing in one of the closer districts either. Kouki had a difficult time getting to sleep that night. His thoughts were plagued about what he'd been faced with, the death of his friends and the very idea that he would soon be devoting his life to fighting and killing Hollows, risking his life in mortal combat.

He shook his head. He'd already made too many broken promises in his life. He needed to change that. This new life was a second chance. A way to begin again. He was going to do this right.

The next day, Kouki and Hinata had arrived at the hall where the entrance exam was taking place. There were a good few people there. Some looked quite shabby or rough-and-tumble, presumably coming from the outer districts, while others looked more like Kouki and Hinata. A few looked like they were quite wealthy, with clothes and accoutrements that looked as if they'd only just been bought.

The tests were simple. The first was a simple swordsmanship test, to see if the applicants knew anything about swordplay. Secondly was a written test to see if the applicant could correctly identify a Hollow, which was no more than a single page. Thirdly, and most likely the most difficult, was the pressure test, as in Spiritual Pressure. Kouki, having absolutely no experience with the matter nor any idea of how to do such things as even focus his reiatsu, felt like this test would prove very difficult and may be the biggest stumbling block he would have to overcome with his application.

"It's probably just like magic or something." He muttered to himself before slouching. "That really doesn't make it any easier…"

"What was that?" Hinata asked, taking notice of Kouki's mutterings.

"I'm just a little concerned about this pressure test they talked about. I don't actually know how to do any of that stuff." He admitted.

Hinata also shared a moment of worry. "Me neither…"

Suddenly both of them were clapped on the back by a stranger, who was grinning widely.

"Hey, don't sweat it you two. From what I've seen it's a two outta three thing." They said. "I should know! I've probably failed more times than anyone else here!"

Kouki got a good look at this new stranger. Whatever gender they were, they had a lean and strong build and looked to be covered in several small pink scars on their arms that stood out in contrast to their tanned skin. Their hair was a deep green spiky mess held out of their face by a white linen bandanna stained by what Kouki assumed was decades upon decades worth of sweat. Their clothing was also fairly ragged, a thin sleeveless shirt and raggedy pants held up by a frayed rope serving as a belt, and their feet were bare but covered in the dirt of a hundred paths.

"Really? How many times have you applied?" Hinata asked.

"I dunno. Never bothered to count." They said. After saying this, their eyes slowly shifted from Hinata's face to her chest. "Hey, you got a nice rack."

At hearing this, Hinata's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Kouki was also visibly shocked as well.

"Dude! There's such a thing called tact y'know?!"

The newcomer slowly turned their head to Kouki with a fairly deadpan expression.

"I'm a chick."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaa-" was Kouki's only slack-jawed response. He honestly couldn't see it one way or the other. Whatever this person's gender was, they looked perfectly androgynous. Frankly, it scared him a little.

"You are the definition of uncultured." Hinata huffed, having tried to regain some of her dignity.

"Culture? I ain't really got time for that stuff." She said, putting her hands behind her head. "Not out at district eighty anyway."

"District eighty? I'm guessing that's about as far away from the Seireitei as you can get." Kouki said.

"Yep. It's crazy out there. Luckily I learned to take care of myself." She said as she wiped her nose. "I'm the best damn fistfighter out there. So one day I got to thinkin' I might make a good Soul Reaper. Been running down here every month to see if they'll take me on. But these guys all seem to use swords, not their fists. Damn shame too. I could punch every one of these instructors through the wall if I wanted to!"

'Huh. That's actually kind of a good point.' Kouki thought as he ran his fingers through his goatee. 'If they teach hand to hand combat in the Academy then why don't they test for it in the exam? Weird.'

"So who are you anyway?" asked Hinata.

"Huh? Oh right! I forgot to introduce myself!" she said, lightly tapping herself on the head. "The name's Midori! Midori Momoko!"

"Cool. I'm Kouki Shin," he said before indicating towards Hinata. "And this is my friend Hinata Hasu."

"Good to meet you." Midori said. "I'll see you in the exams!"

With that, Midori disappeared back into the crowded hall. About ten minutes later a few Soul Reapers walked into the room and announced their presence.

"Alright all of you listen up! We're going to be your instructors for this afternoon's examination. My name is Gengoro Onabara and I will be leading this examination. All applicants will be given a number and after that, we'll begin."

Kouki gave Hinata a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Here we go."

As the numbers were designated to their applicants, Kouki found that he and Hinata were given the numbers 23 and 27 respectively, meaning that he had about 22 people before him to learn the basic nuances of the swordsmanship test. Luckily the test seemed rather simple. Both the applicant and the instructor were given wooden swords before you were tasked on either blocking or dodging five of the instructor's attacks and making five attacks of your own. It didn't matter if your attacks hit or not, they just had to be decent. If you succeeded you were given a ticket and moved on to the next instructor. There were some fairly ridiculous things that some of the applicants did though. One of Kouki's personal favourites was one guy who tried to do a spin attack Legend of Zelda style, but ended up tripping and landing on his face with a twisted ankle. Needless to say, the instructor was not impressed. After a while, the instructor called out once more to the crowd.

"Number twenty three! You're up!"

Kouki breathed in and out a few times as he was handed the wooden sword, numerous dents and chips along its edge. He stood across from the instructor who looked about as fresh as he'd been since the start of the examination.

"Alright number twenty three, are you ready?" he asked.

Tightening his grip on the sword and moving it to a defensive position, Kouki nodded. "Ready."

With that, the instructor moved forward and immediately swung at Kouki's side. Kouki knelt slightly, angling his wooden blade so the instructor's slid off it and overhead. The instructor took a step back to his starting position.

"Not bad." He remarked. "The next few won't be so easy."

He wasn't lying. As soon as he'd said that he launched himself into an overhead strike. As the training sword came down Kouki stepped to the side, the sword almost hitting his toes. Wordlessly the instructor stepped back again before thrusting at Kouki, who sidestepped the attack again. But then the instructor's grip shifted as he suddenly brought the blade back around aiming for Kouki's exposed side! Kouki was just fast enough to block the strike, although he was knocked off balance by the surprise attack. The instructor didn't stop however and attacked with another overhead strike, but Kouki managed to bring his sword up just enough to deflect the blow. The instructor stood back with a nod, his wooden sword at the ready.

"Good. Now it's your turn to attack."

Kouki's grip tightened even more before suddenly Arata's words popped into his mind.

'You'll want to put a little less power into your swing. Fishing is a graceful art after all.'

His grip relaxed. If he put too much strength into his attacks it'd be wild and uncontrollable, thus easy to deflect or block. He'd have to do this with a level head. He swung forcefully, but not too hard, at the instructor's shoulder, who reached up and blocked it effortlessly. Kouki took a small step back before advancing again with a thrust which the instructor blocked with his vertical blade. Seeing an opportunity, Kouki took another step forward and pushed with the handle, trying for a bludgeoning attack on the instructor's chest. The instructor's eyes widened as he moved his hand from his blade to catch the strike, Kouki's attack struggling against his palm.

"A suitable enough attack for a human opponent, but not something you should try against a Hollow. Keep that in mind." He warned as Kouki took a step back. "Either way, that should be enough. Well done."

With that, he reached into his robe and handed Kouki a small green ticket with a circle in a lighter green colour imprinted upon it. He felt a sense of pride swell within him as he handed back the wooden sword, clutching his ticket in the other as he was ushered towards the next test. This instructor, a man with long cornrows and a thin moustache, handed him a sheet of paper and some kind of charcoal pencil and asked him to mark down the most correct answer. It was essentially a multiple choice quiz where the questions had fairly obvious answers. To himself at least.

Once that was done he handed it back to the instructor, whose eyebrows raised slightly upon looking over it. Wordlessly he handed Kouki another green ticket and he was on his way once more. This time he was funnelled into a small cornered off area in the hall where a slightly exasperated looking woman was standing. Near her was a disturbingly realistic looking mannequin, although it didn't have any face to speak of.

"Ah, there you are." She said, her smile just a little bit strained. "Welcome to the pressure test. Tell me, do you have any experience with manipulating your own reiatsu?"

Kouki shook his head. "Nope. At least, I don't think so."

The woman gave a sigh. "Well at least you're honest. In that case I'll teach you a little and then we can measure your reiatsu levels."

For about two minutes the instructor walked Kouki through a basic form of channelling his reiatsu, which constituted forming an orb of light between his hands. It fizzled out the first few times he'd tried it but by the third try it was stable.

"Alright, now that you've learned how to control your reiatsu I'll just measure its intensity." She said, taking a large camera-like device from a box. After mucking about with a few dials, she gave a pleasantly surprised hum. "It appears I was mistaken. This is much better than I thought."

"What is it?" Kouki asked.

"It appears you have a decent level of spiritual pressure, slightly above average for most beginning Soul Reapers. The only thing you lack is control over it, but that in and of itself isn't unusual." She said before digging into her pocket and handing Kouki another green ticket. "I'm pleased to say you've passed. Good work!"

Kouki was grinning ear to ear as he took his last ticket. While not exceptional, he'd gotten three green tickets! Not only that but he'd apparently had above average levels of spiritual pressure, meaning he would be able to learn Kido! This excited him quite a bit. Magic was fun.

Kouki made his way to a desk that was sitting by the entrance of the hall, another Soul Reaper sitting there with an ink pad and a square seal. Kouki presented the tickets to the Soul Reaper, who adjusted his round glasses.

"Congratulations, you managed to pass all three tests. That gives you access to the advanced classes." He said, taking a small sheet of paper from a pile. "What was your name and number?"

"Kouki Shin, number twenty three."

The Soul Reaper jotted this down and stamped the sheet. "There you are. This ticket will give you admission to the Seireitei and the Shinigami Academy at sundown tonight. You'll receive your timetable, uniform and zanpakuto upon arrival at the Academy. Welcome aboard."

"Wait, you're just given a zanpakuto?" Kouki asked, taking the ticket.

"I'm surprised. Most of the people that join are most excited about that part." He mused. "Truth be told, it's only an Asauchi which is essentially a blank zanpakuto with no transformations, and it's on loan from the Academy. But while it's entrusted to you you'll have to take great care of it and keep it on your person at all times."

"Alright. Good to know." Kouki nodded before leaving the hall. "Thank you!"

"No problem!"

Kouki left the hall, but remained outside. He read over the ticket with a growing sense of anticipation. He'd actually managed to gain entrance to the Shinigami Academy. Now he just wondered if Hinata would make it. He only had to wait a quarter of an hour until Hinata emerged with her ticket in hand.

"So, did you make it?" Kouki asked as she approached.

Hinata showed off her ticket with a smile. "I made it into the advanced class."

"Same here." Kouki said with a grin.

"Should we go cue for admission to the Seireitei?" Hinata asked.

Kouki looked back at the examination hall. "Not just yet. I kind of want to see how Midori did on her exam."

The two waited for a while until about an hour later, when Midori practically sprinted out of the hall before leaping into the air, fists raised in victory and releasing a cry of pure joy.

"Yeeaaaah!" she cheered as she hit the ground.

"Hey, you passed?" Kouki asked as he and Hinata approached her.

"Huh? Oh hey Sakana." She said cheerfully.

"Sakana?" Kouki echoed.

"Yeah, Sakana. It's cuz you've got that fish on your back." Midori explained. "Anyway yeah, I finally passed!"

"What classes did you get in?" Hinata asked.

"Advanced." Midori shrugged before realising something. "Oh crud, I gotta go home and pack my things!"

"Wait, you're going to run to district eighty?" Kouki asked.

"Uh, yeah." She said, as if it were obvious. "Anyway, time's a wasting! See ya!"

And then she took off at the pace of an Olympic sprinter. Maybe even faster. Kouki watched in awe at her speed as Midori kicked up an admirably large dust cloud behind her as she ran.

"You know, somehow I don't doubt that she did get into the advanced classes." Hinata murmured.

"Right. I guess we don't really need to pack anything do we?" Kouki added.

Hinata shook her head.

"In that case we'd better get going."

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

By evening, a small group had gathered by the entrance to the Seireitei. Kouki, Hinata and Midori had grouped up again and were standing by the gate with seven others. Only ten people had managed to pass the exams. It was honestly a little surprising to Kouki, but then he remembered that there were probably many recruitment halls around the Rukongai. The majority of the new recruits were like himself and Hinata, not too wealthy and not too poor, at least in their outward appearance. About three looked like they were originally from the Seireitei, dressed in silks and finery. Midori was the only one who looked like she was from the outer districts, although this fact didn't really seem to bother her. Really, she just looked happy to be there.

While they had been waiting, Kouki had managed to find out why Midori had failed so many times. In truth she hadn't actually failed, but instead just gotten into the basic classes. So she rejected them and tried again next month. He wouldn't have pegged this strange, energetic and feisty woman for being a perfectionist, but appearances were deceiving as always.

By the time stars could be seen dotting the night sky, a door opened in front of the massive gate to the Seireitei, another Soul Reaper stepping out from it with an oddly bright paper lantern in his hand.

"Your attention please!" he shouted. "I'll be leading you to the Shinigami Academy. Please follow me and step lively."

The group of ten funnelled in through the door before emerging in the Seireitei. Almost every surface was clean and smooth, from the tiled walkways to the pure white walls. Midori gave an impressed whistle.

"Man, it must suck to keep this place clean." She mused.

As they continued through the twisting streets, they arrived at a huge building with sloping golden roofs. Many thin rectangular windows lined the institute, the building itself bending around to form a courtyard inside it.

"This must be it. The Shinigami Academy." Kouki said, craning his neck up to see the extent of the great building.

"It's huge." Hinata gasped.

They were all led inside before meeting another Soul Reaper.

"Alright, we're going to lead you to your dorms. Tomorrow you'll be woken up and taken to the entrance ceremony where you'll be split up into your classes and from there your time at the academy will begin. After the entrance ceremony you'll all be issued your zanpakutos and given a safety tutorial as well as the strict rulings that apply to them." The first Soul Reaper said. "Women will follow Ai while the men will follow me to your dorms."

The group split, four men to the six women. Kouki waved goodbye to Midori and Hinata as they headed in the opposite direction. The men that Kouki had found himself with were a surprisingly varied bunch. Firstly there was a man that shorter than all of them with a bald head and scraggly beard, his arms and legs stocky with calloused hands. Next to him was a much taller and thin man, a fair bit taller thank Kouki with straight cut black hair, sharp features and a serious expression. Honestly, he looked like he was trying to emulate Byakuya Kuchki. Finally there was one that was about Kouki's height, although he was very fat from the looks of things, easily twice the size of Kouki horizontal-wise. His expression gave a sense of calmness and serenity that was actually a little infectious.

"I must say, you're one of the smallest and strangest groups we've had at the academy for a while now." The Soul Reaper said. "Usually we get upwards of fifteen or twenty new recruits from each hall. Maybe this is a case of quality over quantity."

"Of course it is. I've been training for this since birth." The lanky man said with an air of aloofness that lightly flicked at Kouki's nerves.

"I only wish to do what I can to help." The fat one said.

The short man gave a grunt. "Help isn't what these people need. It's protection."

"I'm guessing you heard about what happened to Hokutan then?" Kouki asked.

"Heard about? I was there!" the short man laughed bitterly. "I was down in my cellar taking stock when I hear someone screaming bloody murder out in the streets! By the time I get up there I see that all hell has broke loose on the streets!"

"I was there too." Kouki nodded. "My friend and I barely made it out of that mess alive. I… I lost some good friends in that attack."

The large man gave a friendly pat on Kouki's shoulder. "Don't worry. Everyone goes through grief. You'll become stronger through it."

It wasn't much longer until they arrived at their rooms. Each room was remarkably small with two double bunks each, a single desk separating them. Two wardrobes flanked the door as they entered, claiming a bed each.

"Alright, here's the room you'll be staying in for the night." The Soul Reaper said. "We'll be around to wake you up for the entrance ceremony. Your uniforms are in the wardrobes and you'll be expected to wear them for the ceremony. Be sure to get some rest."

With that, he shut the door and left them. Kouki went over to the wardrobe and inspected its insides, pulling out a uniform that he guessed was his size. A blue undershirt, white shirt with a circular marking on each side, blue trousers, white socks and sandals. Putting it back into the wardrobe, Kouki clambered into a bed. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

The next morning the four in the dorm were awoken by the sound of rapid knocking at their door. Once they had donned their uniforms they were ushered to an auditorium where they were to be introduced to their teachers. Kouki spotted Hinata and Midori and took a seat next to them. Hinata looked quite nervous while Midori was also looking a little bit uncomfortable. The three made conversation for a little while, talking about the academy itself and the people they'd been grouped up with in their dorms. Kouki hadn't learned the names of the others in his dorm yet, but he'd probably learn soon enough.

A hush went through the large auditorium as a Soul Reaper took the stand and made a few opening statements. But then Kouki spotted an old man hunched over a gnarled walking stick with a beard that reached his waist waiting in the wings, a pristine white coat draped over him. Head Captain Yamamoto was here. Why?

His question was answered when the man himself was offered the stand and he stepped up to speak. The entire auditorium was so silent, the sound of a pin dropping would be deafening.

"To begin, I will say this. I will not offer you my congratulations for getting this far." The Head Captain said. "The beginning is vitally important, yes. And all things must have a beginning. But that beginning is rarely impressive. Instead I will tell you this. Your will is the only thing that may carry you to success. If you falter or are lacking in your abilities, but you do not give up, that is the quality that will bring you success. Patience. Persistence. Courage. These qualities will make you a great Soul Reaper. But you will not succeed with these alone. You will do well to remember that. This institution was created so that you may learn talents to purify wayward souls and bring balance to the human world and to ours. And this is to be your main instrument in that goal."

Holding his walking stick high, the wooden cane dissipated to reveal a large katana. Several people in the crowd gasped at this as Yamamoto continued.

"This is a zanpakuto. By no means is it a toy. It is a unique weapon given to all of you to fulfil your sacred duty. You will spend each of your days with it, learning how to use it, to care for it, and communicate with it. A zanpakuto is by no means an ordinary tool, it is a living being that becomes as much a part of your soul as your own thoughts. In fact, by imprinting your soul's very essence upon the zanpakuto you are given you will make it your own. That is why that you must keep it with you every waking moment during your time here at the academy. By doing so you will unlock its true potential and with any luck, yours as well." He continued before reconjuring the walking stick around the sheathed blade. "I hope that during your studies here that you will become Soul Reapers that your future Captains will be proud to call a part of their Squad. I will conclude by saying this. Even I am still learning."

With that, Yamamoto left the raised dais and shuffled off out of the building. Kouki felt both inspired and a little bit afraid of the man. A being that had lived for so long and attained such immense power… And for some reason he wasn't burned to a crisp by the man's mere presence. The ability to contain that much spiritual power would probably take more skill and effort than everyone else in the room had combined.

After a few other teachers introduced themselves and made a few statements, the students were directed to a room where one by one they were handed a zanpakuto. The safety debriefing was quite simple. They had to keep their zanpakutos on them at all times, but when they were outside of classes or were not communicating with it they were required to keep their zanpakutos tied within their scabbards as well as keeping it within a special carrying bag that they had also been issued. There were also some fairly obvious rules as well, such as don't use zanpakutos to harm other students, don't use zanpakutos in an argument, don't cut your food with zanpakutos, don't clean your fingernails with your zanpakuto, the list went on. After the debriefing the instructor told them that they were allowed a day to get used to the academy and explore and that their timetables would be issued to them in the evening in their rooms. Kouki slung the asauchi bag over his shoulder he met with Hinata and Midori.

"Hey guys. Excited?" Kouki asked, holding the bag's string.

"Yeah! This is gonna be great." Midori grinned with her bagged blade clutched in her hands.

"We're not really here just for fun." Hinata said.

"You can't deny it's exciting though." Kouki shrugged.

"So, any plans?" Midori asked.

"I was just going to get to know the place. Maybe find a library. I think I'll need to study a few things to fill in the gaps in my knowledge." Kouki said. "Hopefully I'll see you guys around in my classes."

Bidding the two goodbye, Kouki began walking the halls of the academy. There were a lot of other students here, their age and appearance varying greatly. The academy seemed to have no restriction on age, but then again age was a little bit confusing here in the Soul Society. After getting directions from some fellow students he found his way to a crowded library, crammed with hundreds if not thousands of records, tomes, scrolls, textbooks and manuscripts. Despite the number of people inside it was almost dead silent, the only noise the rustling of papers or the occasional cough. This silence was perfect for Kouki to think.

After finding a space deep within the shelves of the library, he began to ponder his future. Specifically, the events of the Ryoka Invasion. He had quite potentially the most powerful weapon of any Soul Reaper, maybe even more so than the Hogyoku. Foresight on a scale incomparable even to Aizen. Kouki furrowed his brow. Speaking of that masterful manipulator, what was he going to do about him? He had the potential to keep Aizen from attaining the Hogyoku, preventing everything that happened in Las Noches and thus beyond. But did he even need to stop Aizen in the first place? Everything worked out in the end after all, despite great misery on their side and the kidnapping of Orihime. That was the thing about these kinds of situations. Besides, what story would there be if there was no conflict?

If he put one foot out of place he could either cancel out all of Aizen's plotting or bring ruination to everything depending on his actions, and he had no idea what would do what. But all of that would be for naught if he was caught by Aizen. He would surely be assassinated or worse if Aizen caught wind that Kouki knew about his plots. Perhaps Aizen already knew? Kouki shook his head rapidly. He didn't need to be paranoid. He needed to be rational. There was no possible way Aizen could know that Kouki was onto him. Slowly Kouki's thoughts turned to Aizen's seemingly all-powerful zanpakuto, Kyoka Suigetsu. From what he could recall, he knew that the weapon's abilities initially relied on victim's sight. If he saw the Shikai as it was initially unleashed, it was over for him, as Aizen's illusions were permanent for all intents and purposes. Fortunately he couldn't foresee himself being in any situation that warranted that. But there was also the matter of Gin and Tousen. Kouki knew that Gin was only following Aizen so he could betray and assassinate him later, but that didn't mean he wouldn't kill Kouki just to keep up appearances. And Tousen's warped sense of justice couldn't especially be trusted either. So any potential allies or methods on that front were non-existent.

Kouki frowned again. Even if he wanted to expose Aizen, what proof did he have? More importantly, how could he get said proof without being branded a traitor himself? He suspected talking to Kisuke would be difficult, even more challenging would be convincing him that he knew what Aizen was up to and getting the exiled captain to help him out. Then again, there were the Visoreds, but from what he could remember they had little idea of who caused them to become Hollowfied, not to mention he had no idea where they were and they didn't show up until months after Aizen's betrayal.

Perhaps he could throw a wrench in Aizen's plan somehow? Maybe he could kill Rukia before she had the chance to be executed? Kouki facepalmed at the very idea. Not only would that be next to impossible, even if he somehow succeeded he'd be executed himself as a traitor. Even if he lived he'd be hunted down by not only the entire Thirteen Court Guard Squads, but Ichigo and his friends as well. He wasn't sure which was scarier. Maybe he could confront Kisuke about the Hogyoku? How could he? He had no way of knowing. He could try to bullshit Kisuke, but there was a good chance that the wily shopkeeper would see straight through him. Kouki mentally groaned. Why couldn't his stupid amnesia have taken away everything he knew about the Soul Society as well? While he'd be subject to all of Aizen's manipulation it would also mean he wouldn't have to think about it.

Kouki frowned. No, he couldn't afford to think like that. He'd figure out something. He had plenty of time to do so after all.


	5. Life Update

Hey y'all, Shrubs here.

Now, I have a little bit of news for you guys, whether or not it's good or bad is up for your own interpretation. As you might know I've not been the best with writing updates for my stories and there's a good reason for that. Several in fact. Reason one is that I've been working on an original novel of my own titled _In the Full Moon_ that I've now finished and am trying to find a publisher for. The second thing is that I've been accepted into university so now I really won't have any time to update any of my fanfics even if I wanted to. And yeah, I have kind of lost the drive to write fanfics. I feel a little crummy about this but was always more of a jumping-off point for me in my mind. It makes me feel a little bit weird that I actually have fans that I'm going to end up disappointing, but I guess them's the brakes. So unfortunately, don't expect any more works from me in the future for any of my fics.

But it's not all doom and gloom, since I actually have a Wordpress blog now! It's called **plotdotgif** and unlike my account, I'll definitely be updating regularly! I'll also be uploading little short stories on it as well as creating characters for you guys to write stories about, so if you enjoy my writings here then be sure to check out my blog. I've already uploaded one story ever-so-imaginatively titled _The Apple_ so if you want to read it, feel free to do so and if you feel so inclined subscribe to see for yourself. You can find it at **.com** or you can just search for it in the Wordpress search bar. I'll also be adding a link to it in my profile's bio, so if you want there's an easy link there.

Thanks for sticking with me you guys.

-The Shrubbery King


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